


Pegasus Under the Bloody Sun

by roryteller



Category: Darkover Series - Marion Zimmer Bradley, Talents Series - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-15 13:49:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/850258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roryteller/pseuds/roryteller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a ship finds a world whose inhabitants may or may not be human, Zara Raven-Lyon and her niece join the mission. Contact with a Darkovan catalyst telepath awakens the niece's latent Talent, but she loses control and the two are stranded on Darkover as negotiations for their return and a possible alliance begin. Takes place during Rediscovery and about twenty years after The Tower and the Hive. Zara/Original Female Character and OFC/OFC</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work was influenced by The Day Benden Went to War by dmdomini.

Melanie's voice rang out through the small house. "Dinner's ready!"

Angie shut off the screen of her terminal and bounded down the stairs. By the time she got to the table, Melanie was already sitting down, a covered dish in front of her. Btl and Glk, Angie's Mrdini companions, followed her to the table rather more cautiously.

"I'm glad you like my food but be careful!" laughed Melanie. Melanie Deschenaux was a veterinarian, in her late thirties, with long dark hair verging on black and pale brown skin that showed her First Nations heritage. She was originally from the Laurentian megapolis in North America and had married Zara four years earlier.

The front door opened and Aunt Zara walked in, still wearing her lab coat, fatigue written in the lines on her face and the slump of her shoulders. She'd probably worked right up to the last minute and 'ported herself across town for dinner. Angie was only a second year, but even she heard rumors about the experiments Zara was running with one of her graduate students (‘experiments,’ snickered some, but Angie knew better than to believe _those_ rumors). Zara took off her lab coat, hung it behind the door, and plopped herself into a chair with a sigh. Dzlr and Plgs came in from the garden and sat down on either side of her, pale with concern. Zara hugged each in turn.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

"What's for dinner?" asked Angie.

"Lasagna," said Melanie, and served them each a plateful.

Zara took hers, but when her fork paused for a fraction of a second halfway between her plate and her mouth, even Angie could tell she was mentally conversing with someone.

“So, how are your classes going?” asked Melanie.

“Fine.” Angie glanced over at Zara. It was awkward enough discussing her studies with one of her profs in the family, but she really wanted to know what Zara was discussing, and with who.

Angie felt frustrated - once again, left out as the only non-Talent in the family. She'd wanted to join the military, get as far away as she could as soon as possible, though it was impossible to escape the influence of the FT&T, but her parents had wanted her to continue her studies, and had sent her to live with Zara and her partner Melanie on Altair. It was better here - unlike in Clarf's tiny human community, not everyone knew she was part of the famous Raven-Lyon family, especially not with hair dye to hide the white streak in her otherwise black hair, and she didn't have her bratty little brothers underfoot, but as a non-Talented kid from a Talented family and a lesbian, to boot, she'd never completely fit in anywhere.

After a while Zara stopped eating and cleared her throat.

"That was Earth Prime," she said. "What I have to say does not leave this room. Do you understand?"

All present nodded.

"Good. One of the exploratory ships has found an inhabited planet. It is believed that the inhabitants may be human."

"Human? How'd they get there?" asked Angie.

"That we do not know. He has requested that I head up the effort to study the inhabitants. Normally, as you know, we would leave them alone..."

"But if they're human..."

"If they're human... well, that hasn't happened before."

"I can't imagine it would be common to lose a ship, not on the FT&T’s watch,” said Melanie.

"Even before that, it was rare. And I'm sure someone's looking into which, if any, have gone missing over the years. But even if they're not human, but merely very human-like, that is still very interesting. It should be highly improbable for two very similar species to evolve on different planets, even given similar conditions."

"So you're going?" asked Angie.

"Of course. And you can come too."

"Me? Why me? Why not one of your grad students?"

"Blame it on the famous Gwyn-Raven-Lyon nepotism."

"Really?" Angie wanted more than anything to go.

"Besides which, I can trust you to keep a secret, which I cannot say of most of my students.” She laughed, suddenly looking like the beloved mischevious Auntie Zara of Angie’s childhood. “Yes, I’ve heard the scuttlebutt. If Melanie agrees, we'll leave first thing tomorrow morning. The 'Dinis will come alone, of course."

Angie made her best puppy face at Melanie. "Pleeease?"

Melanie shared a long look with Zara. Angie guessed they must be ‘pathing. "Oh, all right. You'll be fine with Zara around. But be careful. And stay in touch."

"Yay!" she jumped up out of her chair, followed by her 'Dinis, and ran off to start packing.

 

* * *

 

"With her energy, you'd think she was ten, not nineteen," said Melanie later on in the bedroom she shared with Zara, shaking her head.

"Having second thoughts about starting our own family, love?" Zara asked, patting her lover's naked belly.

"Not at all." Melanie, leaning over to kiss Zara's forehead. "But I want both of you back here safe and sound, you hear? No unnecessary risk-taking."

"On a big ship, with a good team of Talents at my back? I'll be fine. Safer than on Altair. And I'll make sure Angie is too, or Laria'll tan my hide."

"She will anyway, if you don't get her permission for this."

"She knows, of course. Not that she was thrilled about the idea, but even I am not irresponsible enough to whisk Angie off without telling her." She sighed. "You're right though, I'm going to have to make it up to her somehow... Thian or Rojer leaving on a top-secret mission with no warning is one thing, but her own daughter... she worries about Angie, you know. She hasn't adjusted well to the disappointment of being the only non-Talent in the family. She's as sharp as her parents, but her grades are low. I'm hoping this trip will renew her motivation."

"It might make her want to join the Navy again, and you know how Laria feels about that..." Melanie pulled off her bra and climbed into bed next to Zara. Zara kissed her gently on the lips.

"Yes well, I'm not Laria, and at the end of the day it's Angie's choice to make. Someday us Raven-Lyons have got to stop trying to run everyone's lives for them. Even if it is for their own good." Zara flicked off the light switch without moving from the bed. "I'm bushed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Melanie rolled over in bed and wrapped her arms around Zara's waist before kissing the side of her neck. At the first brush of Melanie's lips Zara was fully awake.

_I do have to sleep sometime tonight,_ said Zara.

Melanie loosened her grip. _Was that a no?_

Zara thought about that. How many months before she would see Melanie again? _No, it wasn't._ She sent a tendril of kinetic energy around her lover and gave her a ghostly kiss in a very private place.

Melanie yelped and poked her in the ribs. _I thought you were tired!_

_So did I!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angie, Zara, and their 'Dinis join the investigation. Angie once again feels left out as the others turn to Talent to resolve a problem.

It was a tight fit in the capsule with two humans and four Mrdini, plus everyone's luggage. Pol and Dis, who were about forty, same as Zara, were starting to get big - both were already four feet tall and had taken a fourth letter to their names. Gleek and Bit, at least, were still young and about half as tall as Angie, who took after her tall and lanky father. They were visibly excited about the trip, their coats a brighter blue than usual. Gleek was wearing a sort of fake tiara over its poll eye and Bit had an ornately decorated comb. They would have looked ridiculous to anyone less used to showy Mrdini fashions than Angie and Zara. The two humans had not followed in the 'Dinis' footsteps and were sensibly dressed in loose-fitting, modest travelwear suitable for civilians on a military ship.

"Who's catching? Anyone we know?" asked Angie as they settled into the capsule.

Zara shook her head. Angie could tell she was still tired from the way she moved, but she'd put on makeup and braided her hair, the familial skunk-stripe in clear evidence. She looked neat and professional. "A T-2 named Ulises Garcia. I think he's from Jerhattan. No relation of ours."

Angie barely noticed when Altair's Prime threw them to the waiting ship, but soon their capsule was opening and canned air, worse even than Clarf air on a bad day, was seeping in. Angie sneezed.

Zara stepped out of the capsule like she had done it a million times (which was, after all, not far from the truth) and Angie followed rather more awkwardly, along with the 'Dinis. She quickly identified the captain of the ship, a middle-aged black woman with a short military haircut and a solid, muscular build, from her uniform. She was standing next to a civilian, a young man with coppery-brown skin and shoulder-length curly black hair, and a pale, red-haired lieutenant, a medic if she was interpreting the patches on her sleeve correctly.

"T-1 Zara Raven-Lyon, Angharad Lyon-Dano, and Mrdinis Dzlr, Plgs, Glk and Btl requesting permission to come aboard, ma'am."

"Permission granted," said the captain. "Welcome aboard the _Discovery_ , Doctor Raven-Lyon, Ms. Lyon-Dano, Dzlr, Plgs, Glk, and Btl." Her pronunciation of the Mrdini names was decent, only hesitating a little on the longer ones. "I'm Commander Reynolds and this is our chief Talent, T-2 Ulises Garcia, and Doctor McDavid, who's been collecting data for you."

"Your reputation precedes you," said Doctor McDavid. "I did my xenomedicine cert with one of your former students, Professor Gupta."

"Amita Gupta? She was one of my best! How is she?"

"She was doing fine when I saw her two years ago."

"Tell me if you need anything, Doctor." said the Captain, and turned and left the docking bay.

"I can show you to your quarters," said T-2 Garcia. "Call me Ulises."

"Call me Zara." Zara proffered her hand and they exchanged the customary brief touch of telepaths.

Angie offered her hand as well, out of politeness, but didn't pick up on anything, of course, though she knew Ulises must have.

Doctor McDavid shook Angie's hand and brushed Zara's. "I'll meet you three in the lab later," she said.

The quarters Ulises lead them to were small and spare, but Angie would have had worse as a new ensign on a ship like this, so she wasn't complaining. Anyway, sharing a room with Zara was a lot nicer than sharing with her brothers. They left their things without bothering to unpack them and followed Ulises to the lab.

 

* * *

 

Doctor McDavid was already in the lab and had set up a projector and a screen.

"Please tell us about the planet," said Gleek. It spoke very good Basic after two years on Altair and liked to show off.

Doctor McDavid blinked in surprise before nodding and gestured for them all to have a seat. There were even four 'Dini chairs with holes for their tails. Mixed crews were increasingly common but not the rule, Angie knew, so such courtesies were a pleasant surprise.

Once everyone was seated, she turned down the lights and began her slide show. She clicked through photos of mountainous, partially snow-covered terrain as she talked.

"Although Cottman is a red star, its fourth planet, officially designated CX-43, is habitable by humans, if only just. It's a bit cold for Mrdini, unfortunately."

 _Or fortunately,_ thought Angie,  _depending on how you look at it._ Planets that were too extreme for one species avoided the usual conflicts over colonization rights, although usually they were so marginal that no one really wanted them at all.

The next new slides showed photos of what looked to be dirt roads. Angie leaned forward in her chair.

"The planet is sparsely populated by a humanoid species. They build roads such as these, as well as towns such as these," she switched to a photo of some smallish stone and wood buildings. "They use a sort of animal-pulled wagons and riding beasts for transport."

The next slide showed a wagon. The driver's face was obscured by a hood, but the two animals were unmistakable.

"Horses," breathed Angie.

"Or something very similar," said Doctor McDavid, raising a cautioning finger. "Horses alone would have been cause for further investigation, though they use other animals as well." She switched to a slide showing a group of warmly dressed bipeds riding antlered creatures up a dirt road. "But look at this."

The next shot, zoomed in as close as the probe's camera would allow, showed two men-at-arms on the ramparts of a castle, talking to each other. One of them faced the camera, and they could see his brown hair and ruddy skin – enough detail to recognize his face as human, though not enough to pick him out of a crowd.

"If I didn't trust your professional integrity," said Zara, "I'd suspect you of tricking us with stills from some old 2-D. It's not April, is it?"

"I have a hard time believing it myself," said Doctor McDavid. "Because if they're human, when did they get there? And how? Im no expert, but some of these buildings look older than the couple hundred years we've had interstellar travel." She skipped through slides of another town and showed them some crumbling ruins - the base of a stone wall, half-covered with snow. Angie was reminded of the historical 3-Ds she'd soaked up as a kid – it looked like something straight out of old Europe.

"That's assuming they are human," said Ulises, "which is why you're here, Professor. What do you recommend?"

Zara drummed her fingers on the table. "Has anyone tried scanning the planet? Mentally, I mean. I assume we're already using the best probes."

"Why?" asked Ulises. "We won't get any quantifiable data."

"Do you have any experience touching nonhuman minds?"

Ulises nodded. "Mrdini, a little. I haven't encountered any Hivers yet."

"And so far only women have been able to read the Hivers anyway... well, generally speaking, though we have limited experience with this, alien intelligences 'feel' different from humans somehow. So, while it won't be conclusive, if we can read them and if they 'feel' human, it'll be an indication." She paused. "Probably, not feeling human would be more conclusive than the reverse. And we should be careful."

Everyone nodded, and Angie knew Zara must be thinking of Sodan, the powerful mind that had killed Zara's uncle Larak.

"Short of formally making contact, which is a long way off if I know anything about Alliance politics, or acquiring a specimen, for lack of a better word" Zara grimaced, "which goes against human and Mrdini ethics and dredges up a nasty past I think we'd all rather leave behind, I think it's our best option at the moment." Zara turned to Angie. "Stay here and watch the video feed. Pol and Dis, please stay and help Angie."

Angie nodded, understanding the necessity but still disappointed. She thought Zara might 'lean' on her to cheer her up, but instead she just ruffled Angie's hair. "Don't worry, we'll be fine. I'll be sure to call you here as soon as we're done."

Ulises tapped a few buttons on the wall. "Captain? We're coming to the bridge to do a few tests. We'll need gestalt."

Zara turned to leave, then: "Doctor? Will you come with us, or stay here?"

Ah? So the Doc's a minor talent then?

"I think I'd better come with you," said Doctor McDavid. "See you soon!"

And the door shut behind the three Talents, leaving Angie behind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zara, Ulises, and Doctor McAran draw the attention of someone on the planet. Meanwhile, Angie continues to catalog the local fauna.

Zara followed Ulises to the bridge. He explained their plan to the Captain.

"Isn't that a little bit risky?" she asked.

"It is," said Zara. "There is a chance they will notice us, and perhaps consider us a threat. However, it is by far the fastest way of getting results - we don't have a probe that can run medical scans and abducting one of them like aliens from some old 2-D would get us noticed for sure."

"Go ahead then," said Commander Reynolds.

Ulises gestured for Zara to take the sole couch, but she shook her head. It was made for him and would suit him better. Instead, she drew just a little power to 'port in two chairs from the lab - one for her, one for Doctor McDavid. They sat down, and she pulled Ulises and the doc into the merge, while Ulises drew in two minor talents she hadn't met yet. Bolstered by their strength, she sent her merged mind across the surface of the planet below. She briefly touched a mind - something strange and old and tasting of trees - but it vanished so quickly she wondered if it was her imagination. She reached for it again, but it had vanished without a trace, if indeed it had ever been there. She skipped around the surface until she touched something much more familiar. It felt human - an old man perhaps – she got a sense of a stooped posture and an ache from some old injury. Moving on, she touched another half-dozen minds and encountered nothing strange, just different flavors and colors of human.

Then she touched the mind of a young woman, or perhaps a girl, blue/cool/spicy - and felt the woman looking back at her.

_Who are you?_ said the young woman, and Zara hurriedly broke the contact and dissolved the merge. She opened her eyes.

_Did you all feel that? The alien presence, I mean, not the girl._

_I felt something,_ said Doctor McDavid, uncertain. That didn't surprise Zara - as a minor Talent, perhaps a T-8, and especially one with little experience, she shouldn't have the same perception Zara would.

_There was definitely another mind there,_ said Ulises. _I don't think it was human either._

"Captain," said Ulises. "They seem human, though there may be another intelligent life there."

"There may?"

"It was a fleeting impression, as though it wanted to hide from us. And I'm sorry, sir, but one of the humanoid inhabitants is aware of us."

"That means," added Zara, "that she has Talent. Probably fairly strong, to sense us so quickly. Likely a T-4 or stronger, though it's hard to tell for sure from such a brief contact."

Captain Reynolds frowned. "Do we know of any other species that has Talent?"

"Aside from the Sodan entity, no, we don't."

"In other words, they're now even more likely to be human."

"Yes."

"With their level of technology I can't see them posing us much of a threat, but report any further contact. To me and to Earth Prime - the politicians will want a hand in this." The Captain's expression was neutral, but in spite of her shields she gave off a faint feeling of disdain that told Zara all she needed to know about Captain Reynolds' opinion of politicians.

"Yes, sir." said Ulises.

Before leaving the bridge, Zara reported to Thian.

_Earth Prime!_

_Yes? Oh, hi Zara. How's it going in the farthest reaches of space?_ There was a heaviness to his mental voice, as though it had been a particularly hard day, but she didn't sense any distress.

She sent him the impressions she had received. _They're human, I'm sure of it. But that other mind worries me. And the girl. The Captain isn't worried, but if I found a T-4 or higher by accident, they could very well have enough Talents to pose a threat to us. Perhaps even a Prime._

Thian let out a mental whistle. _A Prime? On a newly rediscovered colony world? That'd be interesting. You don't think this girl is, though._

_No. T-4, T-3 perhaps, but not a Prime 'Path at least. I'll keep an ear out for her - she might try to contact me._

_Stay safe._ He blew her a kiss.

_Take care of yourself. Don't let the kids run you ragged._

_Which ones? Mine, or the new crop of T-4s?_ Zara caught a brief glimpse of a crowd of gawky-looking teenagers in one of the Earth Tower training facilities. She'd seen Thian's own kids a couple months earlier. At fifteen, his eldest was pushing for more independence, while his youngest, only three, was discovering her Talent – often a difficult period for the parents of major talents.

_Both._

Thanks, sis. And with that he broke the connection.

Zara followed the others back to the lab, where they explained the situation to Angie, who was letting off a mix of impatience and curiosity with just a hint of her old envy.

"And how's it going on your end?" she asked.

Angie pulled up a few stills - a small, furry animal sitting at a humanoid's feet, an antlered beast of burden, a few birds.

"This," she said, pointing at the first one, "looks an awful lot like a dog. The second one... well, it looks a bit like a reindeer and a bit like a horse, but I've never seen it before. I can't identify any of the birds either."

NOTHING LIKE IT ON MRDINI WORLDS EITHER, said Dzlr.

"The people, on the other hand, look European if anything. We should be looking for colony ships out of Europe, or with mostly European crew and passengers. And we haven't seen any combustion technology or anything that would imply electricity. It's hard to imagine they could have lost everything in only a few hundred years."

"It is strange," said Doctor McDavid, "unless they were Neo-Luddites. There was a small anti-technology movement in parts of Europe a couple hundred years ago. They may have left Earth because of that."

"How do you know about that?" asked Angie.

"Well, we don't talk about it much, but some of my relatives were Neo-Luddites."

"Oh. Were there any Neo-Luddite colony ships?"

"Not officially, no. Such a mission would never have been allowed. One of my distant relatives did ship out as a second-wave colonist, but the ship disappeared. There's some chance they could have made it out this far."

"If you can give me the name, I'll pull up the ship's manifest," said Ulises. "It's a starting point, at least."

"Still," Zara cut in, "the existence of older structures would imply either that they've been there longer than that, which is impossible if they're human, or the presence of another humanoid intelligence." Zara exchanged a glance with Doctor MacAran. "Professionally, I'm of course hoping it's the latter, but only time will tell. Either way, if we ever get permission to set foot on that planet, there'll be plenty of work for me just from the native flora and fauna we've seen so far."

Angie nodded, and turned back to her screen. It showed a still of several of the antlered creatures the locals used interchangeably with horses. They were elegant, but powerfully built. Zara leaned in to look at it.

"You know, I want to ride one too."

"You do?" Angie looked up at her, smiling.

Zara nodded. "Have you seen me with Damia's horses? Best part of living on Aurigae, really."

"They'll never let us, though." Angie started the video on her screen again, and Zara went back to her work. She wasn't sure the trip was having the desired effect on Angie after all. But she was sure Angie would find her place soon enough.

After a couple more hours, Angie yawned.

"It is getting late," said Zara. "Shall we break for dinner?"

Angie nodded her agreement and stood, following Doctor McDavid to the mess hall.


End file.
